The Shenbao (申報 Shen Bao; Shun Pao) was a Chinese newspaper founded 1872 in the International Settlement of Shanghai as a joint venture of four British merchants led by the controlling shareholder and general manager Ernest Major. Important early Chinese editors working with Major were Jiang Zhixiang (將芷湘), Wu Zirang (吳子讓), He Guisheng (何桂笙), and Qian Xinbo (錢昕伯), who were soon joined by Cai Erkang (蔡爾康) and Shen Yugui (沈毓桂). The newspaper came under Chinese control when Ernest Major left China in 1909 and from 1912 until his assasination in 1934 the Shenbao was predominantly under the leadership of Shi Liangcai (史量才). The Shenbao is one of China's longest running and most successful commercial newspapers, lasting until the fall of Shanghai to the People's Liberation Army in May, 1949. The newspaper suspended publication for a time in December, 1937 with the Japanese invasion. Two new but short-lived editions emerged in Hankou (Wuhan 1938.1-7) and in Hong Kong (1938.3-1939.7). Publication later resumed again in Shanghai under heavy Japanese influence. After Japanese surrender the newspaper never regained full independent control and in 1946 the newspaper was compelled to sell majority ownership to the ruling Nationalist party.